Radio One to increase ad rates by 20% from Feb 20th

Radio One (Next Radio Ltd) which runs differentiated radio stations targeting upscale educated audiences in all its 7 cities has decided to increase its advertising rates from Feb 20th, 2015. The increase in prices will be an average of 20% across all 7 markets which are Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Pune, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Chennai.

‘The advertiser today has evolved and is looking to pay higher for ‘better targeting’ and it is for this very reason client digital spends have gone up. Radio inventories have been peaking at over 30 mins an hour of advertising resulting is very high clutter and increase in ad rates is the only way to balance the revenue and listenership equation.  Just filling up inventory at current rates is a mindless commodity creating exercise as it causes more clutter for the advertiser and upset listeners who tune out of any station due to heavy advertising said Saurabh Sehgal, Chief Sales Officer at Radio One.

Vineet Singh Hukmani MD & CEO Radio One said : ‘Differentiation that the listener enjoys, better targeting and digital connect costs us money and we have been increasing that investment into the product year on year. Since we clearly target a well profiled listener on air and even offer a much better connect with an upscale educated segment online, we are only charging clients for better ROI. Our programming is no longer just 3 time bands, we have a multitude of content properties running both in prime and non prime time, week & weekend, day & night and on air & online and we already have the highest revenue in the industry from special sponsored hours, innovative properties and a host of exclusive clients that advertise ONLY on Radio One! We also have the maximum amount of celebrities involved in commercial station initiatives as compared to any other radio station and these help break the clutter and therefore are and need to be premium priced. No other station’s ‘hosts/RJs’ are so experienced at targeting a well profiled educated and online segment in such a distinct targeted manner (since other radio station hosts have to cater to a mass audience right from a rickshawallah to a CEO) . Our ‘host brands’ too offer better impact and engagement and the integrations we do innovatively with them are far more effective as a result of expertise within this defined audience set.

Agencies have always supported us in our journey into differentiation and better targeting and we look forward to providing the best solutions for clients and it is heartening to now see how we are also treated differently from the other radio players who are essentially just selling reach/spots at a ‘rate package’.  We offer advertisers an upscale educated engaged audience which sticks to our station due to the unique content and this 20% increase will be ploughed back to take this engagement to the next level.  It’s a win-win for all, added Saurabh Sehgal

Radio One posted excellent Q3 results recently, as published by this site where in the Revenue in Q3 grew 25.6% , EBIDTA went up 42% and PBT was up by 167% as compared to the same period last year. Radio One is a brand owned by Next Mediaworks  which is a listed entity.